Happy New Year

My 1st grader brought home a wonderful paper that made me smile. Even at his age, he's learning about New Year's Resolutions. So what matters to a 7 year old?

1. I want to be more creative.

Don't we all? I want to create and be understood. I want to see things I only imagine now. I want other people to see them as well. I want to write each day. I want to make things to personalize my home and make it comfortable. I want to create ways to remember my children's accomplishments and be able to look through them and say, "Remember when . . ."

This resolution coming from the middle child says a lot to me as his mother. His older sister likes to draw and is always "creating" drawings, art, boxes, jewelry, etc. He's a brilliant boy with things that come easy to him but the one defining thing we always praise his sister for he wants to be as well. He plunged into reading, wanting more. I had to drag is his sister initially because she was afraid to fail. He has a mind like a trap. He was one of twelve kids to compete in the school level spelling bee for 1st through 3rd grade and then made it through 3 rounds where he competed against 3rd graders. He tackles math and school like everything else, No Fear.

But, in this admission, he shows that we all want to be the best at everything; even if that something is not what interests us the most. And most importantly, that my children crave praise and I should never miss an opportunity. In turn, remind my other children that we celebrate other's achievements, not just our own.

2. I want to be strong.

There are so many nuances to this phrase for me as adult and it means only physical strength to my 7 year old. I want to be strong, physically, spiritually, emotionally. I have days where it's struggle to not be overwhelmed on what is asked, demanded and needed for each day. I want to be stronger. I want to know the right answer when my kids have questions about faith and be the example by living my convictions. And who doesn't want to have muscle tone in the arms and the ability to keep going when others have fallen behind.

My son is strong for his age. Since he was 3, and closing the distance in height between him and his sister, we have a special question that we asked a lot.

"What is the biggest and strongest?"

Answer--The softest and nicest.

He will continue to be strong and I know he will increase it with age and with what he chooses to do. I am proud and will continue to be proud. I hope he knows that what we value with strength is how he chooses to use it. So, I'll keep asking the same the question he's heard since he was 3.

3. I want to be fast.

I really don't want to be fast. I need to be fast. Life is busy. There's a lot to do. But I do agree with him on the intent of this resolution. I want to RUN fast. My family has always modeled healthier living. I participated in my 1st walk on Thanksgiving and there is a 10k I'm preparing for in April. I do want to be fast and I want the benefit from being fast in this arena--a slimmer me.

Teddy just wants to compete. He keeps asking where are the kids races. My husband's looking for them when we register for runs or walks. Start young and stay healthy. His school has an Annual Fun Run. There's the 1 mile option and 2 mile option. He wants to be fast for next year.

Normally, I sort through pages and pages brought home from school and ask, "Do you really want to keep this?" with that tone. The tone that implies it better be really important with drawers full of paper already. I saw this one and put it away. This is worth keeping, to remember what is important to my son in 2011.